Five extra points on the employment exam if you have a disability

It is a law of three concrete duties, and the first is the one most people do not know: a scoring bonus on employment exams. It is not the same law that prohibits disability discrimination — that is Act 44-1985, which has its own guide: this one adds a benefit that one does not give.

The benefit is for a “qualified person with a disability,” which the law defines as a person whose physical or emotional impairment substantially affects one or more of their major life activities and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, is able to perform the essential duties of the post they hold or seek, and meets the other employment requirements, such as experience, academic preparation and having passed the employment exam where there is one. Those bound are the Government, its agencies, instrumentalities and dependencies, public or quasi-public corporations, municipalities, and private persons or entities operating businesses in Puerto Rico with fifteen or more employees that require passing an exam or test as part of their employment requirements.

• Being a qualified person with a disability as the law defines it.Verified against the official source
• That the employer be the Government or a private business with fifteen or more employees requiring passage of an exam or test as part of its employment requirements.Verified against the official source
• Having passed the employment exam without the help of the five points or five percent.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Five points or 5%, whichever is greater

   The text is literal: when as part of their employment requirement they require the applicant to pass an exam or test, “they shall be obliged to add five (5) points or five (5) percent, whichever is greater, to the score obtained by a person with a disability on any test or exam required to qualify for entry or promotion in a job.” Note it covers both entry and promotion.

2. 2

   Step 2: The bonus is added after passing

   This is the precision that avoids a costly misunderstanding. The definition of “qualified person with a disability” requires meeting the other employment requirements, “such as experience, academic preparation and having passed the employment exam, where there is one, without the help of the five (5) points or five percent (5%) to which they shall be entitled after having passed it.” That is: you pass on your own first, and the points are added afterwards.

3. 3

   Step 3: You need not declare your disability, but you may

   The law requires the employer to tell you on the form itself: it must “state on its employment forms that the applicant is not required to report being a person with a disability, but has the right to do so in order to be considered for the benefits this Act confers.” There is the trade-off: declaring is voluntary, and it is what opens the door to the scoring bonus.

4. 4

   Step 4: Reasonable accommodation, and who decides if it is onerous

   The duty is to “make the reasonable accommodations that allow persons with disabilities to work effectively and maximise their productivity and promotion opportunities.” And the exception has a named forum, which is the interesting part: only excepted is “an employer who can demonstrate, to the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities, that such reasonable accommodation would present a prohibitive economic effort for the business.” It is not enough for the employer to say so: the law says to whom they must demonstrate it.

5. 5

   Step 5: What counts as reasonable accommodation

   The law defines it with concrete examples: “the appropriate or reasonable logical adjustment that allows or enables a person qualified for the job, with physical, mental or sensory limitations, to carry out or perform the assigned duties.” It includes adjustments to the work area, construction of physical facilities, acquisition of specialised equipment, providing readers, aides, drivers or interpreters, and any other action reasonably facilitating the adjustment that does not represent an extremely onerous economic effort. The definition adds that accommodation also covers participating and integrating into society in all aspects: work, instruction, education, transportation, housing, recreation and acquiring goods and services.

6. 6

   Step 6: If you are a veteran, the bonus does not double

   Worth knowing before counting on both. “The benefits of this subsection shall not apply if the person with a disability applying for promotion or entry to a post, job or work opportunity qualifies to receive the benefits conferred” by the veteran’s bill of rights, which grants five points or five percent, whichever is greater, and five additional points or five percent to veterans with a service-connected disability.

7. 7

   Step 7: The sentence must grant the denied right

   The penalty has a second part more useful than the fine. Any natural or juridical person who intentionally violates or in any way denies or hinders the enjoyment of these rights commits a misdemeanor, with a fine of no less than two hundred (200) and no more than five hundred (500) dollars, and subsequent violations with a penalty not exceeding six (6) months of imprisonment. And it adds: “The Court’s sentence must additionally provide that the qualified person with a disability be granted, without delay, the right that was denied them.”

The Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities is the forum this Act expressly names: it is to the Advocate that an employer must demonstrate a reasonable accommodation would be economically prohibitive. The law also orders the Government, its subdivisions or agencies, instrumentalities, public or quasi-public corporations and municipal governments to put in force the necessary regulations or amend existing ones to comply. If what you face is disability discrimination in employment, that is the Act 44-1985 guide, which also presumes discrimination if you are asked about your condition on the application; if your matter is the general bill of rights, that has its own.

• Counting on the five points to pass: they are added after you have passed on your own.
• Not declaring the disability when you want the benefit: declaring is voluntary, but it is what makes you eligible for the bonus.
• Believing it applies to every private employer: the law speaks of businesses with fifteen or more employees that require an exam.
• Expecting the bonus where there is no exam: the article operates on entry or promotion tests or exams.
• Adding the bonus to the veteran’s: the law expressly says it does not apply if you qualify for the veteran’s benefit.
• Accepting the employer’s “no” on accommodation: the law requires them to demonstrate it to the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina del Procurador del Paciente (OPP)

  Procurador del Paciente

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov